Chopin - Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 10/4 (Artem Tereshchenko)

Ukrainian pianist Artem Tereshchenko performs Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 10/4 by Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849). This etude is known as the “Torrent étude“ and was composed in 1830 at the age of 20. The entire piece is based on the same semiquaver motif, which springs from its opening strong sforzato accent to rapidly increase its volume and compass until ending abruptly on a strong sforzato climax. In Robert Schumann’s 1836 Neue Zeitschrift für Musik article on piano études, the study is classified under the category “speed and lightness“. Collet remarks that the procedure of transferring the semiquaver figuration from one hand to the other, common in Bach but rare in Chopin, “makes great demands on the left hand.“ Chopin [in other works] rarely treats the left hand “as if it were a second right hand.“ Chopin’s zigzag configuration of the semiquaver line hardly allows usage of the standard C♯ minor scale fingering and invites